Dragon Rage
by Whisper In the Wind89
Summary: -Sequel to 40 Years ago- Tatsuki and Ichigo enter the summer looking forward to having fun with their friends and enjoying the relaxing vacation. Little do they know, something from within is awakening. Now, the two race against the clock to stop this inner demon from awakening and causing unspeakable amounts of destruction including the loss of their own lives.
1. Chapter 1: Warning

Well the first chapter of the redo is done. I didn't change the first part of the chapter. The only part I changed is the part where they are all at school. I redid everything from there to the end.

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Lightning illuminated the dark land. The thunder quickly followed, sending a loud crash echoing throughout the land. Arisawa Tatsuki stood upon the ledge of the tallest cliff. She looked around in confusion, wondering where she was. The storm grew louder in the background. Bolts of lightning appeared more frequently as she tried to make sense of where she was at. Suddenly it grew quiet. The storm no longer roared and Tatsuki was left doomed to be lost in the darkness.

Suddenly, laughter filled the air. It was faint but audible enough for her to hear it. It was a deep laughter that sent a chill down Tatsuki's spine. She looked around trying to find where that laughter came from, but it was no use. There was no light to help her see. The laughter grew louder as Tatsuki's body began to shake lightly. She did not know why she was trembling, but it was something she could not control.

Just then a light appeared in the distance. The laughter stopped. The light soon grew bigger as though it was heading towards Tatsuki. She took a step back and almost lost her footing. She forgot she was standing at the edge of a cliff. She didn't look down, but she knew it was a long drop. As it got closer, she could make out a few characteristics. '_Is that a… dragon?'_ She thought to herself.

As it got closer, her suspicions were correct. Coming at her was an aqua colored dragon. It let out a load roar that made Tatsuki shiver violently. The dragon began emitting a powerful reiatsu that made her fall to her knees. It felt like a heavy weight was placed on her back. She was barely holding herself up. Finally her arms gave in and she laid flat on the ground, unable to move. The dragon drew nearer and its roar grew louder. As the dragon drew closer Tatsuki noticed something odd about it.

At the top of the dragon's head, something shone brightly. She couldn't quite make it out because it was still far away. She struggled to get up, trying to fight this immense reiatsu keeping her down. Just then the dragon finally made it to the ledge, floating there in front of Tatsuki. It just stood there staring down at her frail body.

She looked up into its eyes. They were like emeralds, shining brightly into her eyes. Just above the dragon's eyes, on the forehead, a black mass encircled by a crimson red glow sat there. She could barely make out what it was. "Arisawa Tatsuki…" It spoke.

Open. Tatsuki sat up and looked around at the familiar walls of her room. She clenched the bed sheets tightly with one hand as she placed a hand on her face. She was surprised when she noticed that her hand was trembling lightly. For days, now, Tatsuki has had dreams similar to the one she just had. Each dream was a continuation of where the other had left off. _'What is going on with me?'_ She thought to herself.

The next day at school, Tatsuki was exhausted. Though she didn't show it, those who knew her could tell she was tired. Waking up in the middle of the night for eight days straight because of the dream started to take its toll on her. It did not help the fact that Orihime called Tatsuki 5 A.M. in the morning to tell her that she could make it into school because she had a severe cold and hoped Tatsuki could get the notes for her. She reluctantly agreed and after hanging up the phone tried to go back to sleep only to be interrupted again by the sun peeking through the cracks of the blinds.

She walked into the classroom and plopped herself into her seat. Ichigo, who was sitting in the back corner talking to Chad, glanced over and saw this display of exhaustion. Worried, Ichigo excused himself to Chad and sat on a desk next to Tatsuki.

He looked over and studied her face. Her eyes were closed and Ichigo could barely hear her snoring lightly. He grinned as he ran a finger across her cheek causing her to tremble lightly. She slowly opened her eyes to Ichigo who sat there with a goofy grin on his face. Tatsuki's eyes started closing again before her mind could process his grin. She opened her eyes once more and Ichigo still had that grin. She inadvertently jerked her head back and gave him a weird look. Ichigo chuckled lightly as he placed a hand on her head.

By now everyone knew they were dating. Chad was the first person to find out about the two of them. He was walking home one day after going to the park and passed by Ichigo's house. As he walked past the front gate, he glanced over and saw Tatsuki and Ichigo sharing a kiss in front of his house. As he was passing by, Ichigo's eyes happen to look over where he stood and he quickly parted from her lips. Tatsuki looked up at him in a pouting manner, but then followed where his eyes looked and saw Chad there. He had a smile on his face that caused Tatsuki to look away and blush lightly. Ichigo grinned as he tried to think of an explanation. Chad just smiled as he walked away. Tatsuki looked up at Ichigo who just stood there and smiled at her. He held her close once more before she left.

From there, Orihime found out next. She was walking around the city going shopping for food when she saw Tatsuki sitting outside at a café. She was about to yell her name when she saw Ichigo come up and kiss her head. Orihime quickly hid in an alley and watched the two of them. Tatsuki looked up at Ichigo and they kissed. Orihime looked away, depressed. She had strong feelings for Ichigo, but she never acted on them. Inoue turned around and began walking away. Tears fell from her eyes as she created more and more distance from the young couple. Now she reluctantly accepted the fact that they were together and she couldn't break them apart without turning into the bad guy in the situation.

But the real reason everyone found out about Tatsuki and Ichigo was through Keigo's loud mouth. One day, Tatsuki and Ichigo were walking to class hand in hand. Keigo was in the classroom talking to Mizuiro. He felt Ichigo's presence outside and decided to surprise him. He made his way to the door, and peeked outside. Just as he poked his head through, he caught Ichigo and Tatsuki kissing by the windows. His eyes widened as he stood there and stared at them. He quickly hid behind the door trying to hold his breath. He didn't want them to know he caught them in the act. Just then Ichigo and Tatsuki walked into the classroom.

"Oi, Keigo. What are you doing standing there?" Ichigo asked with his usual scowl.

"I/didn't/just/catch/you/and/Tatsuki-chan/making/out!" He blurted out. Both Ichigo and Tatsuki stopped in their tracks. Their eyes widened with shock, Tatsuki's face turned a light red. Ichigo quickly turned to glare at Keigo. Keigo's face turned a pale white. Everyone in the class stood silent. They either had their eyes on Ichigo, Tatsuki, or Keigo. Suddenly a few of the girls began giggling and whispering. Some of the guys started chuckling under their breaths. Ichigo got teased by a lot of his classmates for awhile, but it progressively decreased until no one said anything about it. They all got used to seeing the two of them together. Keigo lived in fear since then, expecting either Ichigo or Tatsuki to get revenge on him.

The school bell rang and it was time for class. The school day dragged on and it seemed like forever for most of the students. The reason being it was the last day of their junior year and they were ready to get out of high school for the summer. When the bell finally rang, most of the students rushed out of the classrooms and into the hallway. It was like the running of the bulls in the hallways. Teachers scrambled to say good-byes to their students who were halfway out the doors.

Ichigo and Tatsuki slowly walked down the hallway, hand in hand, towards the front doors. The others walked in front of them at the same pace.

"Hey Ichigo," Tatsuki said. "What are you plans for the summer?" Ichigo looked down at her and smiled.

"I don't know, yet." He said.

"I was thinking about going on a trip to the beach." She began. The others all stopped and turned to look at her.

"Let's all go as a group to kick off the summer." She said cheerfully. Ichigo was for the idea. Chad was the first to agree. Orihime smiled as she accepted the invite. Uryuu agreed as did Rukia and Mizuiro.

"What about me?" Keigo asked. Tatsuki looked him right in the eyes and flashed an evil grin in his direction.

"You're defiantly invited." She said menacingly. Keigo realized what she meant and grew nervous. He hid behind Chad as the group began laughing. After they got out of the school yard, Tatsuki arranged everything.

"Ok meet at the train station tomorrow at Noon!" She said. "Bring sleeping bags!" She yelled as they all went their separate ways home. Ichigo and Tatsuki walked home together. They headed towards Tatsuki's house first. While on the way, Ichigo's substitute shinigami badge began beeping. He let out a loud sigh and glanced at Tatsuki. She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders as he ran over to an alley. He quickly ejected himself from his body and emerged in his shinigami robes.

"I'll be back." He said. And with that he jumped into the air and disappeared. Tatsuki leaned against the wall next to where his body lay. Ichigo reappeared near the hollow. It made its way around the park sniffing for souls. When Ichigo arrived, it felt his reiatsu and turned to face him. Ichigo stood there looking annoyed as the hollow began charging him. He lifted Zangetsu in the air and was about the strike when he felt another reiatsu coming at his direction fast.

Suddenly the sound of something getting sliced filled the air. Ichigo's eyes widened as he watched the hollow disintegrate before his eyes. Just as the hollow completely vanished, Ichigo saw a figure standing on the other side. It was a guy who looked really familiar.

"You're so slow, Ichigo." The man said with a grin. Ichigo realized who it was.

"Eratu Yamasaki." He said. Yamasaki looked at Ichigo with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked.

"I was looking for Tatsuki. Do you know where I can find her?" He asked.

"She's where I left my body." Ichigo responded. Yamasaki placed Rukenai, his zanpaktou, back into its scabbard.

"Have you noticed anything different about her?" Yamasaki asked. Ichigo gave him a weird look as he thought about all the times he was with Tatsuki. But with each thought, he could not think of it.

"I don't mean her looks, you idiot." Yamasaki shook his head. "I meant her reiatsu. Have you felt the change in her reiatsu? Find her right now. You can just feel it changing." He said.

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo said.

"Quiet. Just stop for a second and look for it." Eratu said. Ichigo tried to focus on Tatsuki's reiatsu. When he found her, he observed her reiatsu. Nothing seemed different about her reiatsu. Ichigo was about to yell at Yamasaki before he felt a sudden jolt. Tatsuki's reiatsu sky rocketed for a split second. Ichigo's eyes widened when he felt that sudden jolt. It was such a strong reiatsu, it surpassed even his own. He knew Tatsuki had obtained powers just like Chad and Orihime did, but he didn't know it was that strong.

"What was that?" Ichigo gasped. Yamasaki stared towards Tatsuki's direction.

"Keep an eye on her Ichigo. I don't know what it is yet, but something tells me it's not good." Yamasaki stated. "I'm going to go look into further. But for now keep an eye on her." Ichigo nodded and with that he disappeared. Ichigo stood there for second before he went back to Tatsuki. When he got back he found Tatsuki leaning on the wall just standing there. He smiled as she looked over at him.

"Took you long enough," She said. "What happened?" Ichigo quickly jumped back into his body before answering her.

"It was nothing. I just ran into Yamasaki when I got there." He responded.

"Oh yeah, what did he want?" Ichigo debated on whether to tell her what they talked about. But he didn't want her to worry so he decided against it.

"It was nothing really. He just stopped by to see how everyone was doing." He said with a small smile. Tatsuki smiled as well as she reached out for his hand. He gladly took hers in his and they continued walking home.

--

I'm gonna try and make this story take place over the whole summer vacation and maybe a little bit of their senior year as a way to wrap things up.


	2. Chapter 2: Author Note

Hi to all followers and any passing readers who happen to open this story,

I created this story almost 5 years ago on 9/19/2008, then on 10/15/2008 I made a modification to the first chapter and from there the story just kind of sat there on hiatus...

Today: 6/3/13 I came back to this site for 2 reasons:  
1. I enjoy writing alot, and it does not matter what I write about.  
2. I hate incomplete projects and I like to try to finish my projects, even if there were a long time between when it started and when I pick the project back up.

I have written up an outline on how the story will go from here to the end. The ending may get changed depending on if I choose to change the story as I am writing it. If the story stays as I have outlined it, there may be a sequel story to this, but again it will depend on how the story will go as I write it.

The first few chapters may take awhile to do since I may rewrite them and because I am trying to get back into writing. I would like to get all the chapters written out as soon as I can while the story stays fresh in my mind.

Look forward to the next chapter, more than likely coming this week or so...


	3. Chapter 3 - Start of the Summer

_"Keep an eye on her Ichigo. I don't know what it is yet, but something tells me it's not good."_ Ichigo could not stop thinking about what had played out the night before. "_What was that reiatsu?"_ He questioned himself. The amount of reiatsu was not as troubling as the uneasy feeling he got when the sudden spike of power emanated from within her. But how can he find out what's going on without her knowing?

He shook his head vigorously to clear his thoughts. He had plenty of time to think about it later. Right now, he was running a little late on meeting up with Tatsuki to go shopping for a swimsuit to wear for when they meet up with all their friends for their beach party to celebrate the summer.

As he headed towards the shopping center, he was texting Tatsuki apologizing for the delay. He received her usual angry written messages scolding him for running late and lacking discipline. To anyone else they would think Tatsuki was genuinely upset, based on the language of the messages. But, to Ichigo, he could practically see her sending the message with that cute smirk she would have that could make Ichigo smile no matter what.

It was one of Ichigo's weaknesses that he would never admit could make him smile and ease any tension that he had. A beautifully evil grin on her face where she would scrunch her nose to complete the look that she would give you. It has been proven throughout their relationship to be highly effective against breaking through Ichigo's hard-headed personality.

When he arrived at their meeting spot, he looked around but could not find the absent Tatsuki. He figured she must have been late as well so he took a seat on a nearby bench as he fumbled around his pockets for his cellphone. Once he opened their conversation, he began typing letting her know that he's at their meeting spot and was waiting at a nearby bench.

He placed the phone back in his pocket and leaned back. The weather was perfect, light amount of bright white clouds floated in the sky above. The sun was shining brightly, yet the weather was a cool and comfortable temperature.

It was the perfect day for a trip on the beach. No doubt though, that the nearby beaches were going to be completely crowded with people trying to escape day-to-day life and just sit back and enjoy the perfect day. Luckily for him and his friends, Ishida was able to find a secret cove that's nearly impossible to find unless you knew exactly how to get there. After he came across the location, he made a path to the cove and covered the entrance so no one else could stumble upon the path.

Suddenly his train of thoughts were interrupted by his phone buzzing, indicating that he had received a text message. He opened his phone and then the message. A look of mild irritation came acrosss his face as he read Tatsuki's response.

"_You took too long so I went ahead without you. :-) next time dont be so slow!"_ Then his phone started buzzing again as he received another message from Tatsuki.

"_You're probably reading this with that irritated look on your face. Suck it up cry baby LOL!"_

He let out a loud sigh and grinned as he got up from his seat. As he put his phone back in his pocket, he headed into the shopping area to start his quest on finding his mean girlfriend. The quest was short lived though because he had a very good idea what area she would be in.

The shopping center strategically placed many of the stores which sell women's clothing closer to the middle of the shopping center. There existed many routes to get to this section, all of which required a person to pass by many stores before they reached their destination.

Once he arrived, he began glancing through each store, but never going inside, to see if he could find the familiar light black/dark blue hair that sat upon his girlfriend's head. When he finally found those familiar locks floating through the racks of clothes, he entered the store and made his way to her.

Tatsuki skimmed through each store checking out the bikinis each store had for sale. She tried a few on just to see how it would look on her tiny, yet muscular frame. While looking around in one store, she unconsciously migrated over to the dress section where many of the summer dresses were hanging. Once she realized where she was, she looked around lost and confused and started to walk away from the section. Tatsuki never could see herself wearing or doing girly things. But then, a dress caught her eye. At first her conscious tried to fight from checking out the dress, but the more she looked at it, the more it intrigued her.

Next thing she knew, she was examining the dress with more interest. It was a simple red dress, her favorite color. The dress had some patterns sewn around, but it was nothing too extravagant. The tomboy part of her was getting upset that she was even looking over the dress and thinking about what she would look like wearing it.

Before she knew it, she was in one of the dressing rooms trying on the dress. As soon as she slipped her right arm through the strap, she looked at herself in the mirror. At first she almost didn't recognize herself seeing as how this was the first time she ever really wore a dress. She began to wonder how Ichigo would look at her if she were to wear this dress out on a date or something. A barely visible light red blush came across her cheeks as she imagined the reaction and the look on his face.

Needing a second opinion, she quickly grabbed her phone from her high cut jean shorts pocket and snapped a picture of herself in the dress. She sent the picture to Orihime with the caption, "What do you think?" Anxiously she waited for a response from her best friend. Seconds passed, though it felt like an eternity for her, and no response from Orihime. Frustrated, she took her dress off and changed back into her clothes, a sporty tank-top and a pair of high cut jean shorts that barely sat below her rear.

As soon as she finished re-dressing herself, her phone began to beep. Immediately, she dug into her pockets to grab open her phone. She excitedly opened her messages to see what Orihime had said.

"_Wow who is that she looks so cute in that dress? Is that a celebrity!? Can you get her autograph for me!?"_ Tatsuki sunk her head and chuckled. Did her appearance really change that much by just wearing something girly? She replied back telling Orihime that she was the one in the picture with the red dress on. Moments after sending her message, she received Orihime's response.

"_She doesn't even look like you! She looks way too much like a girl! Who is it seriously!?"_ This infuriated Tatsuki. She quickly dialed Orihime's number and waited for her to answer. Once she heard Orihime's voice, she unleashed a scolding that would make anyone feel horrible.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE ME! LOOK AGAIN THE ONLY THING DIFFERENT IS I AM WEARING A DRESS! HOW CAN YOU NOT RECOGNIZE YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND WEARING SOMETHING GIRLY!" Orihime began to wail on the other line and started to apologize over and over.

"Imsorry! Imsorry! Ishida-kun you were right that was Tatsu-"

"YOU SHOWED THE PICTURE TO URYUU! HOW COULD YOU! THAT PICTURE WAS ONLY MEANT FOR YOU TO SEE AND TELL ME HOW I LOOKED" For this, Orihime began to apologize even more trying to calm down her angered friend.

"What's all the yellin' for?" A voice called out behind Tatsuki. A chill ran down her spine as a slight blush crept up upon her cheeks. She turned around and came face to face with Ichigo, who stood a few feet away from her holding his hands to his ears to muffle the shouting. Suddenly the wailing and crying grew silent on the phone, yet it went unknown to Tatsuki who was stammering trying to speak, at this point, anything just to answer him.

They stared at each other for awhile, Tatsuki frozen in fear and Ichigo wondering why she didn't say anything. "Uh.. hello?" He inquired quizzically.

"Hey Ich-Ic-Ichigo." She stammered. She held the dress tightly behind her with her phone, still with Orihime on the line.

"Why are you acting so wierd?" He asked.

"Nothing. Just... you surprised me, that's all." She said with a nervous chuckle.

"Ok... did you find a swimsuit yet?" He asked as he looked around at the clothes around him. Tatsuki took this chance and quickly put the dress back on a clothing rack.

"Hey." Tatsuki froze for fear. Had she been found out? She turned around and, to her surprise, found Ichigo holding a dark blue two piece bikini in his hand.

"This looks pretty good." He said looking over the bikini. "You should wear this." Tatsuki grinned, amused that Ichigo had picked out something for her to wear. Ichigo, not thinking too much of it, looked over to Tatsuki and handed it to her. She took and gave it a quick look over. To her surprise, it was really cute now that she had really looked over it.

"Wow Ichigo, I didn't know you had an eye for fashion." She jokingly said. Ichigo scowled at her as they went to the register to pay. After they paid and exited the store, Tatsuki came up with an idea. Since Ichigo had picked out her swim wear, she would pick out his. As she said this, she flashed an evil grin at him which drew a concerned look on his face. He tried to reject the idea, but it was too late. Tatsuki had run off to look for a store, leaving Ichigo disheartened by the thought.

Instead of trying to catch up with her, he just continued walking at a slow pace accepting the inevitable fate. He began to imagine the silly trunks that he thought she would get for him. The one that really made him cringe was a pair of light blue trunks with strawberries all over them. Looking back, he wished he hadn't put much thought into her swimsuit and grabbed one of the silly looking ones.

He had lost sight of Tatsuki after she had made a few turns, who glanced back a few times with the same grin she had after leaving the store she bought her swimsuit at. He could faintly feel her reiatsu as she weaved through the shopping center, though he still was not good at it. After turning a corner to walk down another seemingly endless aisles of shops, he felt a sudden jolt of reiatsu. It wasn't anything too alarming, but it was higher than normal which caused him to lose his train of thoughts and look around.

When he looked up in the direction of where he felt the energy, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Looking around, he tried to focus his attention on the reiatsu and to see if he could sense it again. Suddenly, his focus was gone again and this time something new grabbed his attention. He walked over to the front window that had on display a bunch of white dresses that were clothing otherwise naked mannequins.

He marveled for a moment on how beautiful a lot of the dresses were and began to imagine those dresses and how Tatsuki would look wearing them. As soon as he realized what his thoughts had conjured, he began to chuckle lightly at himself. _'There's no way Tatsuki would ever let herself be caught dead in one of those dresses.'_

Still though, he continued to look at the dresses and let his mind wander to visions of Tatsuki in one of those dresses and just how it would add more to her beauty if she was wearing one of those dresses, with a small flower in her hair as she walked down the aisle of their wedd-

His eyes widened as he stopped his train of thoughts right then and there. A confused look fell upon his face as he began to backtrack his thoughts. _'Did I just imagine our wed-'_ Again he stopped his train of thoughts not able to bring himself to say that word in his mind. He felt a slight warmth in his cheeks the more he thought about the word that which he could not say. Little did he know, a surprise was creeping up on him.

"Hey scatterbrains!" The voice alone struck a deafening fear through his veins. His face suddenly resembled a bright red tomato. His legs, on their own, jumped and he turned his body faster than a blink of an eye. He stared into the eyes of a proud and triumphant Tatsuki Arisawa. Not realizing why Ichigo had the look of death on his face, she handed him a bag and proclaimed she picked a very special set of trunks for Ichigo to wear.

Tatsuki, realizing they spent a lot of time shopping, quickly checked her phone to look at the time. Terrified, she quickly grabbed Ichigo's hand before he could peek into the bag and started running citing they were going to be late and to hurry up to meet the rest of the group.

Remembering the look on Ichigo's face when she surprised him, she quickly glanced back at the store Ichigo was looking through the window. Her eyes widened slightly as she quickly hid the blush forming on her cheeks. _'Why was he checking out the wedding dresses on display?'_ She shook her head of the thoughts as they continued to run to the gathering point so that they could head to the beach. Unbeknownst to Ichigo and Tatsuki, two men watched them standing above the bridal store that Ichigo had been looking through the window at all the wedding dresses.

"Ah. To be young and in love again." One of the men proclaimed. The other, standing behind him had a slight grin on his face.

"You are such a cruel person, you know that?" The other man stated. The first turned and hid his big joyful smile behind his signature fan.

"Now Yamasaki, whatever do you mean?" The first man questioned hiding the giant child-like grin he had on his face behind his signature fan.

"Why did you lead Ichigo to this specific store, Urahara?" Yamasaki asked as he turned to watch the couple disappear behind a building as they continued their mad sprint to meet up with the others.

Suddenly, Urahara changed his expression from happy and joyous to serious and foreboding. "I believe you know the answer to that question." Yamasaki, agreeing with an understanding nodded, continued to follow the two's reiatsu as they headed to meet up with the others.

"Hopefully..." Yamasaki began, "we can contain this before things gets too out of control." He lifted his left arm and began adjusting his bracelet, an 8 beaded bracelet that has two strings dangling at an end that help loosen or tighten the bracelet. At the ends of the strings were crosses that allow the bracelet to expand to a certain point so that the bracelet doesn't come apart.

"I'll keep an eye on her." And with that Yamasaki headed off to meet with the gang for a day on the beach while Urahara headed back to his shop.

* * *

The first few chapters won't contain too much content in terms of the main story line. I'm trying to get back into writing and the first few chapters will be me getting back into the flow of writing. So, I didn't want to write the main story right off the bat and feel like the content was inadequate. Chapters will be released sporadically, based on availability to write and the amount put into each chapter.


	4. Chapter 4 - A Day at the Beach

"Hey!" Tatsuki called out waving to the rest. The rest of the group turned to direction from where her voice came from. Ishida, Orihime, Sado, Keigo, Mizuiro, Keigo, and Yamasaki. Ichigo lagged behind, practically being dragged by Tatsuki waved as well as they finally came to a halt.

"Hey Tatsuki!" Orihime gleefully welcomed her best friend as they finally reached the group.

"Sorry we're late everyone. Ichigo was taking forever so I had to pick something out for him." She gave him that familiar smirk which did nothing to quell the uneasiness within him. He didn't have a chance to take a took at what Tatsuki picked out for him. The whole time they were running, trying not to be too late in meeting up with everyone, he did not get a chance to open the bag and look.

"Oh?" Keigo, who happened to be standing in the complete opposite side of the group, began, "I didn't take Ichigo to be a long shopper." He had a huge grin on his face. Tatsuki gave him a look of confusion until things started clicking in her head. She glanced menacingly over at Ishida, who quickly averted his eyes elsewhere in fear.

"I heard that there was a delay since someone was trying on so-" Suddenly a chill ran down his spine and his body began to tremble lightly. Everyone looked over at him wondering why he stopped, his face now pale white like he saw a ghost. Sweat began to profusely fall from his face.

What no one seemed to have notice was the person on the other side glaring a hole right through him. The fire coming from Tatsuki's eyes signaled the death and destruction she was about to administer to her friend should he finish his current sentence. Keigo began to stammer, trying to think of something else to say but fear took over his body.

"So," a voice called out, "ladies and gentleman as much fun as it is to watch Keigo get beat up by Tatsuki, I believe I hear the beach calling us!" Yamasaki said with a smile on his face, He pat Keigo on the back and nodded over to Ishida who, aside from responding with his own nod, let out a quiet sigh. He knew eventually Keigo's spirit would give in to the fierce pressure that Tatsuki's soul was surrounding Keigo's body like a trap.

"Ishida! Lead the way!" Yamasaki cheered. Ishida turned and lead the group to the entrance of a path into a wooded area. Silently, he thanked Yamasaki for defusing the situation. He, too, didn't want to feel the wrath of Tatsuki Arisawa. Some things in life are better left not having to experience. For those who know Tatsuki, that was one of them.

"Wait!" Ichigo said aloud. "Why did you say Tatsuki was going to beat up Keigo?" This caused Ishida and Keigo to both tremble again. Everyone looked around at each other, starting to realized that Yamasaki did mention this. Everyone looked back over at Keigo who was visibly shaking at the knees. He began to stammer, the fire reawakened in Tatsuki's eyes.

"Can we figure that out later?" Mizuiro asked. "My arm is getting tired carrying all this stuff." Somehow he was tasked with carrying the food they were going to eat while at the beach. In one hand, he was carrying the cooler that had hamburgers, hotdogs, and the condiments like ketchup and lettuce among others. In the other hand, he carried the food that did not need to be chilled like the buns and the graham crackers that they planned to use to make s'mores in the evening.

Sado agreed, who was stuck carrying a bag, in each hand, of two cords of logs. Keigo was carrying two coolers as well, one filled water and the other filled with pop and juice. Tatsuki and Orihime didn't have anything to carry except for sleeping bags, which everyone else were also carrying. It was one of the perks of being females in a group of friends that consisted of mostly guys. Ichigo only had to carry the two bags from the earlier morning shopping. Ishida, leading the way carried a few umbrellas for some who wanted to lay out and rest, something that both Keigo and Mizuiro complained heavily about. Yamasaki carried a backpack which had all the towels for drying and putting on the sand to lay out on, sunscreen, and other necessities like a first aid kit.

Still feeling a little tension coming from Tatsuki's direction, Keigo made his way up front with Ishida. The two of them, nervous wrecks, walked a little faster than normal not realized they were creating some distance between them and the group. The sooner they arrived at the beach, the sooner the two guys could breathe easier. The path was relatively straightforward and very well kept. Some of the people pointed this out to which Ishida responded that he had visited the path recently and did some work to clear up some of the shrubbery so that there did not exist any obstacles.

After a few more minutes of walking, they finally made their way out of the wooded area and into a small field that overlooked the cove. The path turned into an angled walkway that went through the high cliffs of the cove and ended at the tip of the white sands. Everyone spread around on the field to admire the beach area which surprisingly had a few stands set up on the white sands. Ishida raised an eyebrow looking around at

"Hey Ishida," Mizuiro spoke out. "Nice touch on those. When did you set those up?"

"I didn't." He responded in a stern voice. "It seems that someone else knows of this cov-"

"You're welcome!" Yamasaki excitedly spoke, interrupting Ishida. Everyone turned and gave him a quizzical look.

"You know about this place?" Ishida asked, surprised someone else knew of the place as but also disappointed that this was not his own secret place.

"Yeah, I've known about this place for awhile, I've never really been down to the beach area. But, I have been here over on those cliffs over there." He pointed over to the right where the tall flat-top cliffs were located.

"I come here every now and then at night when I want to get away from things. You've seen me here before, Ishida." He spoke as he looked over at him. Ishida again raised an eyebrow trying to think of a time he saw Yamasaki on the cliffs, but to no avail.

Then he remembered one night he was on the beach sitting there enjoying the peaceful atmosphere the evening brought and the gentle sounds of the waves crashing against the distant cliffs. He held, in his hand, a small bracelet that he was planning to give to Orihime for her birthday. He loved how the gems on the bracelet shined with the light from the moon. Feeling like he was being watched, Ishida looked around and then up at the top of the cliffs on his right. He could barely make out the outline of a person standing there on the cliffs, or so he thought. But, as soon as he blinked the outline disappeared. Thinking that the moonlight was playing a trick on his eyes, he thought nothing of it.

He asked him if that was Yamasaki he felt that night, to which Yamasaki nodded in agreement. Before they could continue, Tatsuki shouted out with his fist in the air to quit the talking and delaying their enjoyment in the sand. She began to run down the path to the beach. Everyone smiled and then the rest of the group began running as well.

When they finally made it to sand, they looked around and examined the things already on the beach. On the far left side, stood two blue buildings similar to that of a phone-booth. But unlike a photo-booth you could not see inside them. On their right hand side, stood a giant hexagon shaped gazebo. Next to it, stood a smaller arched roof gazebo with a small grill within it.

"You can put most of our stuff over in the gazebo," Yamasaki began. "They should be fine in the there. And, if you want, theres enough room within it for all of us to sleep comfortably in it."

Yamasaki then turned to point at the two shacks on the left. "Those are for the girls so they can change their clothes without having to worry about Keigo peeping in on them." Yamasaki said with a grin on his face.

"WHAT!?" Keigo protested. "I would never do such a thing like that!" He flailed his arms in protest against Yamasaki's accusations. Everyone laughed which disheartened him, but he knew it was all in good fun so he decided to play along. Tatsuki quickly grabbed the bag that had her bikini from Ichigo's hands.

"Thanks Yamasaki!" Tatsuki shouted as she ran towards one of the booths.

"Tatsuki! Wait for me!" Orihime shouted as she ran after her. "I need to change too!" Tatsuki opened the door to one of the booths and stepped inside. Orihime, not thinking, tried to get into the same booth as well.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Tatsuki yelled. "You dummy you're supposed to go in your booth!" She raised her fist menacingly like she was about to strike Orihime upside her head. Orihime quickly apologized and ran out of the booth and into the other. The guys, ignoring this, headed over to the gazebo to put down all the stuff.

When they got to the gazebo all, but Yamasaki, checked out the set-up that Yamasaki had put together. The grill was basic, a simple circular metallic charcoal grill that had a bag of charcoal sitting next to it. The gazebo had a table on either side of the grill so that you could sit a plate down for when the food was done cooking.

The main gazebo was massive. As Yamasaki stated before, it was big enough for all of them to sleep in and still have enough room, even with the long table at the very end. The guys all walked in from the entrance, which was facing at an angle so that it overlooked most of the beach and the water. The entrance also had a small awning that was held up by two poles at the other end. That way, if it rained the water couldn't get it. Keigo and Mizuiro started stretching their arms, trying to let their muscle recover from having to carry the heavy things the whole way. Ichigo and Ishida, unlike Keigo and Mizuiro, were pretty strong having been involved in many battles and weren't too affected by it. Sado, who was naturally a strong individual, didn't show any signs of fatigue as well as he gently placed down the logs at the entrance of the gazebo.

The girls had finally finished changing and were making their way over to the guys. Keigo happened to look up and see the two walking over. His jaw dropped several feet underneath the sand. Tatsuki was wearing the bikini that Ichigo had picked out earlier, a dark blue two piece bikini with some lighter blue streaks in a wavy pattern on the top piece. Orihime wore a light pink, flowery bikini that was somehow able to mostly cover her massive breasts.

Keigo suddenly fainted, which caused the rest of the guys to stop unpacking at look at him. He had a giant smile on his face with a light stream of drool coming out the side of his mouth. The guys were all staring at him oblivious to the fact that the reason he had fainted with a smile was just outside the gazebo.

"What's wrong with him?" Orihime asked, observing the scene.

"Who knows." Ichigo began. "Maybe he exhausted himself carrying all tha-" Ichigo stopped mid-sentence finally realizing what made Keigo that way. He looked up and unconsciously his eyes began to scan up and down the two girls standing at the entrance way. It wasn't long until the rest of the guys looked up too and reacting in the same way. All of them, faces turning red, were left standing there babbling like idiots.

Tatsuki, realizing what was going on lifted her fist in the air. In what sounded like one giant slap, all the guys inside the gazebo were on the ground nursing the giant bump on their heads they received courtesy of Tatsuki's fist. Yamasaki was the only one who was spared. He was oblivious of the whole situation since he was firing up the grill. When he turned around he caught his first glimpse at the two bombshells. Tatsuki, caught his eyes and glared waiting for a response. Yamasaki lightly nodded and then went right back to setting up the grill.

"What's wrong Yamasaki? Got something to say?" Tatsuki asked menacingly. She made her way over to him, fist clenched, ready to add him to her list of victims. Yamasaki calmly turned around to face the angered young lady.

"I like the bikini. It's pretty cute." He answered in a calm and cool voice. "Did you buy that this morning?" Tatsuki hesitated glaring for a second before answering.

"Yeah, I bought it this morning. Ichigo picked it out for me." A loud clunk from in front of her startled Tatsuki. Yamasaki had dropped the metallic part of the spatchula into the grill, trying to suppress his laughter. Suddenly she could hear the quiet sound of laughter surround her. She looked in the gazebo and everyone, aside from an irritated Ichigo, were trying hard not to laugh. Yamasaki, did his best to keep his composure. Luckily, the focus was drawn away from him so no one could see the giant grin on his face. For the next few moments, everyone was filled with laughter as Ichigo stood there defenseless and blushing.

When the laughter finally settled down, they all decided to go and have fun and enjoy the day. The girls ran into the water first, swimming and splashing water on each other. When the guys grabbed their trunks they looked around, trying to find the changing room for the guys. Unable to find one, they asked approach Yamasaki who had finished warming up the grill. He turned around to grab the food right as they approached, asking about the mens changing room.

"Gentlemen. We're all mature young adults here." He boastfully spoke. "We don't need a changing room!" In one quick traumatizing moment, he stripped bare naked in front of their eyes and put on his swimming trunks much to the disdain of the rest of the guys. He turned back and flashed a giant smile which was met with Ichigo's fist.

"Idiot! What kind of an idea is that!" Ichigo muttered before walking off into the wooded areas to go change. Yamasaki picked himself off the ground, still grinning, while the rest of the guys headed off into different parts of the wooded area to change. Yamasaki grabbed the cooler with the food and carried it over to the grill. He took out the pack of ground beef and placed it on the table next to the grill. He ripped open the plastic and started shaping some of the ground beef into burger patties, throwing them on the grill after he was done making all of them.

After the guys all finished changing, they decided to join the girls in the water. Everyone was splishing and splashing like little kids. Yamasaki was the only one who didn't join in the fun, as he had designated himself the grill master for them. Every so often he would turn around and watch the group having their fun with a small smile on his face. He watched Tatsuki and Ichigo, the latter carrying Tatsuki on his shoulders for a moment only to fall backwards and send her splashing into the water, much to the enjoyment of the rest.

"_She reminds me so much of her..."_ Yamasaki thought to himself. He shook his head, letting out a small chuckle as he turned back to the grill to tend to the food. Once everything was done cooking, he took a couple plates from the gazebo and placed all the food, carrying it back inside. There were burgers, hot dogs, chicken breasts, and even some grilled vegetables sitting on the table waiting to be consumed.

"YO!" Yamasaki yelled to the others. "The foods ready!" He waved at them as he took a bite of a hamburger he had just put together.

* * *

The plan is: I have two more chapters to go before I transition into the main story itself. The 2nd upcoming chapter will transition into the actual story itself. I just need to figure out how I'm going to do this since I've had to work around the original layout I drew up.

For those interested:

- The next chapter (ch.5) will continue at the beach scene, but will occur more during the evening as they settle down for the day.  
- Ch.6 will be the transition where the first half will focus on the two couples in this story going to a carnival, and then later in the chapter will dive a little into the main story.  
- For those wondering, this is set to be a 16 chapter story with the possibility of a sequel.


	5. Chapter 5: Summer Nights

The rest of the day was filled with fun and relaxation. They played in the sand and built sand castles. They swam and had fun racing each other in the water. Some, like Keigo, waded and relaxed enjoying the cool temperature of the water. Yamasaki laid out and enjoyed the warm rays of the sun. Mizuiro, having brought a camera, took pictures of everyone trying to capture all the fun moments, like when the whole group snuck up on Keigo lying in the water. They picked him up and threw him as hard as they could deeper into the water.

Ishida and Ichigo were battling it out to see who could make the best sand castle out the two. Tatsuki and Orihime watched and cheered on their boyfriends. Sado, like Yamasaki, laid out under the sun. But, he sat in a beach chair under an umbrella reading a book. The day went on as such, everyone relaxing and having fun. And as the sun began to set, they migrated closer to the gazebo, which due to its massive design, had garnered the nickname the fortress.

While Yamasaki and Sado dug a bit of a dip in the sand to make a fire pit, the rest of the guys opened the bags and cut the strings holding the cords of wood. They piled a few of the logs on top of some kindling. Then Yamasaki used his kido to light the kindling so that the logs would catch fire. They all sat around the fire as the sun set in the distance. There was a peaceful and calm silence as they sat around the fire, something that many of them hardly had the time to do.

Ichigo, Orihime, Ishida, and Sado are usually busy day to day having to control the hollow population from preying on the innocent. Days go by where they hardly have enough time to relax and rest. Tatsuki also was busy training for Vale Tudo Championships. Some nights she would be some busy in training, she had no time to be with Ichigo nor barely get any rest for school the next day. Keigo... Mizuiro worked at a local convenient store to make some money for the sake of having income.

As the night got darker, the wind grew a little cooler. Ichigo and Ishida, acting upon normal couple instincts, sat behind their girlfriends and wrapped their body around them to keep them warm. They sat around the fire reminiscing about times in the past and remembering all the funny moments, which oddly enough were mostly Keigo getting in trouble with Tatsuki. Somehow they got onto the topic about couples, mainly how did Tatsuki and Ichigo become a couple and Ishida and Orihime as well. Mizuiro talked about his girlfriend. Keigo... Sado failed to comment on why he as single. This left Yamasaki who had been fairly quiet during their bonfire talk.

"Hey Yamasaki, your turn." Ichigo said. "Got any girlfriends that you've been hiding from us?" Yamasaki smiled lightly.

"No, not really." He answered. "I've kept to the single life for awhile. Unlike Keigo, I chose so." He smirked as Keigo let out a cry which had everyone laugh.

"So no ex's or anything like that?" Mizuiro asked.

"I did have one, actually." Yamasaki began. "It was awhile back, back when I was in Soul Society. But, it's a pretty boring story you guys don't want to hear it. Did anyone bring marshmallows?"

"Hey now!" Ichigo interjected. "Don't change the subject. You heard all about our relationships. Talk about yours." Everyone else voiced their agreement, to which Yamasaki let out a quiet sigh.

"We met while she was out on a mission. I was fishing in one of the ponds. Suddenly her squad surrounded me as she approached. I didn't really notice, I had a bite and it was fighting. I think she was yelling at me for something, but I was too focused on getting this fish. It was pretty bad." He began to chuckle.

"It all happened so quickly. I yanked the pole and the fish came jumping out the water. And well... let's just say she caught the fish whether she liked it or not."

"So what'd she do after the fish landed on her?" Sado asked.

"I don't know." He answered pridefully. "I ran away before she or anyone on her squad could catch me." He chuckled lightly.

"After that, it was rough. She didn't quite forgive me for that because she had the stench of fish on her for a week."

"When did the two of you start getting close to each other?" Ichigo asked. Yamasaki took a sip from his water bottle before answering.

"It was one day she was trying to get her revenge on me. I was standing on a cliff just enjoying the weather. She tried to sneak up behind me, but I knew she was there." He took another quick gulp of water before continuing his story. "We got into a hand-to-hand fight for a bit. When we broke apart for a quick breather we complimented each other for our close quarter combat. That's when I made a bet." Yamasaki had a smirk on his face now.

"I said, 'You fight really good. How about a wager?' She had this evil grin on her face, like she knew what I was about to say. 'The loser has to acknowledge that the winner is better in hand-to-hand combat than the other.'" Yamasaki stared into the fire, asking Sado to place a few more logs onto the leaned backwards and grabbed a few of the logs from the pile behind him. He placed them right in the middle of the pit so they were directly on the fire.

"She agreed and we went at it for hours. It was a lot of fun. I knew she was enjoying herself, I could see the smile on her face. I don't know how long we went at it, but at one point we finally stopped and just stood there trying to catch our breaths. And then... we kissed." Yamasaki spoke a little more softly now, a light blush formed on his face but in the darkness it was impossible to see.

"It was so wrong, but yet so right. Next thing I know, I was running my fingers through her hair. She was squeezing my shoulders tight." Yamasaki had that distant, yet excited, look in his eyes as he continued his story. "Somehow, I ended up pressing her up against a tree, my lips never let go of hers." Yamasaki grew more and more spirited as he continued his story.

"We broke apart for only a moment just to catch our breath. In that split second, I saw something in her eyes. There was something that was just begging me to give more. Next thing you know we're ripp-"

"OK ENOUGH ALREADY!" Ichigo suddenly roared out. His face was a bright red. Yamasaki looked over at him with a quizzical look. Then, he busted out in laughter when he saw Ichigo's face.

"Why is your face so red Ichigo!?" He said with a huge grin on his face. "Were you getting a little too exci-" Another one of Ichigo's fist met Yamasaki's face, a vain pulsing in his forehead. Everyone was laughing as Yamasaki sat there nursing his second bruise of the day, on his head, courtesy of Ichigo.

Suddenly an ominous feeling filled the air. Everyone grew silent and serious as they looked towards the city, lit as bright as always.

"That was a strong reiatsu in the city." Ishida said as he stood up. "I'll go che-".

"I got it." Yamasaki interrupted. "You guys relax. It's your first day of summer vacation, enjoy it." He said with a warm smile on his face. "I'll be right back." And with that, Yamasaki disappeared and headed out to where the hollow was.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group decided to roast some marshmallows. Tatsuki declined to participate, and instead wanted to go take a walk on the beach. Ichigo stood up, ready to walk with her, but Tatsuki refused.

"I'm fine Ichigo." She said with a small smile on her face. "The fire got me a little warmed up, I just want to go walk and cool down a little." She wiped a few beads of sweat off her forehead as she headed out. Feeling Ichigo's eyes follow her, she smiled as she continued to walk.

"I can take care of myself, I'm not a weakling ya know." She yelled. Ichigo stared for a moment before he smiled and turned back to the fire where Sado was passing around the marshmallows while Mizuiro handed everyone a stick. Everyone placed their marshmallow on the sticks and set them by the fire. Keigo had gone inside the tent and went through one of the bags. He came back with a bag of chocolate and graham crackers. Everyone cheered as he opened the containers and passed around the chocolate and graham crackers. Ichigo grabbed a second set, planning to make one for Tatsuki when she got back.

Tatsuki walked along the part of the beach where the waves came crashing up against. She let the water immerse her toes whenever it came crashing up on the shore. It felt good to her. She looked back at the fire, they had started making the s'mores. She smiled when she saw the s'mores kit sitting in the empty chair next to Ichigo.

She looked back at the ocean, dimly lit by the light radiating from the half moon in the night sky. Not many stars could be seen, for there were clouds in the sky hiding their brilliance from Tatsuki. She was mildly upset by this fact, but it was nothing that really bothered her. She took a deep breath, enjoying the cool evening air as she slowly exhaled. Suddenly she felt a presence behind her, not knowing what it was she quickly turned around, readying herself for whatever..

"Hey." Yamasaki simply said. She could barely see his face, but could make out a smile. She smiled back, not knowing whether or not he could see it.

"What'cha doin' out here by yourself?" He asked. "Don't tell me my story got you worked up too?" He joked. Tatsuki let out a small chuckle and she lightly shook her head.

"Sometimes I wonder just how innocent Ichigo really is." She spoke with her usually mischievous grin. "I was enjoying it myself." Now it was Yamasaki's turn to laugh.

"So what are ya doin' out here?" He asked again after their laughter had settled. Tatsuki turned back around to face the ocean, some waves crashed again onto the shore and over her toes before they withdrew back into the ocean.

"Yamasaki, I need to ask you something. I don't want to involve Ichigo because I'm scared he might get too worried." Her voice cracked slightly as though she was holding back her emotions. "Can you promise me that?" She turned, facing him. Through the moonlight, she could see his smile was no longer there, replaced by a serious yet concerned friend.

"When did you first notice it?" Yamasaki knew not to beat around the bush. He knew exactly where the conversation was going. Tatsuki, a little taken back by the sudden question, somehow knew Yamasaki understood what she was talking about. A small smile of relief crept upon her lips.

"Of course. Of all of my friends, I knew you would have the best chance of knowing if something was wrong." She said. "Before I answer you have to promi-"

"He kinda already knows." He said. "Remember a few days ago we met in the park?" Tatsuki nodded.

"When we walked off for a second to talk, I asked him to focus his attention on your reiatsu. We felt a spike in your reiatsu for a brief moment. I told him to watch over you and make sure everything was ok." He placed a hand on Tatsuki's shoulder. "Tell me... when did you first start noticing something wasn't right with your reiatsu?"

"A few days ago, actually. I was in the dojo training by myself. I was practicing on the wooden dummy, when I started getting into my routine. Suddenly, I felt this strong force within me start to grow. I was speeding up my routine on the dummy, but somehow I felt distant from my body." Tatsuki stared into the distant sea remembering that day.

"I was watching myself practice, but I couldn't do anything. Each hit on the dummy got stronger and stronger. I thought to myself I should stop, but it felt so... right. I fought, trying to snap out of it but I kept hitting the dummy harder and harder. Suddenly, I saw my body just let out a spurt of energy and broke every peg that was sticking out of the base." She lifted her arms as though she was re-enacting the scene in her mind.

"When I finally regained my senses, I looked down at my hands and arms. They were covered in bruises from hitting the wood so hard. Apparently, my hands had been cut open when the parts of the pegs broke. I didn't care, though. I felt... oddly at peace as I watched the blood drip from my fingertips." She clenched her fists, which were now shaking with fear.

"What's happening to me?" She turned to look at Yamasaki, her eyes watering up from the rush of emotions filling her body. Yamasaki looked away. He thought for a moment before he spoke.

"Has Ichigo ever told you, about the hollow within him?" Tatsuki didn't understand his answer. What did that have to do with her? When she shook her head no, she was about to ask but then he continued.

"Don't tell him I told you about this. The same reason why you won't tell him about this, applies to this as well." She nodded, eagerly waiting to hear the story. "Ichigo has kind of like an inner hollow within him. When he first started feeling its presence, it was a little uncontrollable. When he first transformed into the hollow, he became a mindless being that only wanted to fight and kill. It scared him to death to the point where he didn't want to use his shinigami powers because every time he used his powers the hollow's presence would get stronger and stronger."

He left go of her shoulder and walked a little past her and closer to the ocean, looking up at the moon. Little did they know, someone from the fire had never taken their focus away from Tatsuki and Yamasaki. Though they physically were taking part in the laughter and stories around the campfire, they had kept their attention on the two.

"Through time and meeting new people, he was able to go within himself and control the hollow. Now, he can summon its power without worry as the hollow gave itself to Ichigo therefore admitting Ichigo was the better of the two."

"So you're saying there's a hollow within me?" Tatsuki asked, not waiting for Yamasaki to finish the story.

"No." He simply responded. "Yours is different. It doesn't feel like a hollow, nor a shinigami, or a Quincy, or even a fullbringer."

"Then what?" Tatsuki pleaded. Yamasaki could hear the despair in her voice. He gave her a comforting look, trying to keep her from getting any more upset.

"It's more... animalistic. Pure rage. I don't how else I can explain it. I wish I did." He looked away, unhappy that he couldn't answer her question.

"Ani... malistic?" She asked.

"The reiatsu you emit kind of reminds me of a wild animal. A strong yet willful force that's very dangerous to mess with." Tatsuki grew even more concerned. Truthfully, she was scared.

"How can I stop this?" Tatsuki asked. She looked down at her hands again, still lightly trembling.

"I'm working on it." He responded. "Staying positive and keeping your stress level down has shown to keep that rage within you from growing. I didn't feel anything from you all day today until we caught wind of that hollow. I felt a sudden increase and knew I had to act fast." Yamasaki turned to look at the group at the fire, he could feel a pair of eyes staring over at their direction.

"I think you should head back. Ichigo might get worried and look for you." He said. Tatsuki, still distressed about herself, began her way back to the fire.

"Hey." Yamasaki called out. He gave her a warm friendly embrace. "I promise I'll figure something out. OK?" He flashed a consoling grin at her. She lightly squeezed his arm, a sign of thanks, which was still around her. He let her go as he turned towards the city.

"I'm going to scout around the city one more time to make sure everything is ok. I'll be back shortly." And with that, he disappeared back into the city. As she approached the fire, she placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. He looked up and smiled. She smiled back as she sat down next to him.

"Feelin better?" Ichigo asked as he handed her a premade s'more. She happily took the snack and nodded, taking a small bite into it before she answered.

"Yeah. I just needed to cool down. I'm good now." She happily took another bite from the delicious s'more. Just then Yamasaki came back. He appeared behind Keigo with an evil grin on his face.

"Hello Keigo." He spoke in a quiet menacing voice. Keigo jumped, head first, to the other side of the fire. He landed head first into the sand burying the upper half of his body. Everyone laughed as he pulled himself out from the sands, cursing Yamasaki for scaring him like that.

Everyone was sitting around the fire enjoying their s'mores. Everyone except Yamasaki, who came back a little too late. Everyone had already made two or three and used up all the supplies. Yamasaki sat there with his arms crossed with a pout on his face.

"Hey Yamasaki, can I ask you something?" Orihime, who had been fairly quiet all night, asked out of the blue.

"Sure. What's up?" Yamasaki asked.

"I wanted to ask before you disappeared after that hollow. But, what's that bracelet on your arm?" She pointed to his left wrist where the bracelet in question was. It was a simple 8 beaded metallic bracelet.

"Oh this thing?" He asked, lifting his left arm. "This is my reiatsu limiter."

"What does it do?" Orihime asked, obviously to the stares she received from everyone.

"Well, essentially how it works is, the limiter makes sure I don't go over a certain amount of reiatsu. If I try to, it'll activate and stop me from releasing more reiatsu." He answered.

"But why would you want to do that?" Orihime questioned some more. "What if you get caught fighting a really really tough enemy and he just keeps getting stronger and stronger." At this point she was standing, flexing the non-existent arm muscles. Yamasaki chuckled lightly.

"Well, I just try to get rid of them quickly before they can summon more power." He said with a smile.

"How long have you worn it? I don't remember seeing you wearing it when we first met." This time it was Ishida's turn to question him.

"Yeah. I just started wearing it recently. You remember that espada that came to earth a few years back." He looked around and everyone nodded.

"Well, I went to Hueco Mundo to finish him off and had to release my Bankai to do so. Unfortunately, doing so actually altered the landscape of the spot where I released my Bankai. The ground is now a hole that looks like a bottomless pit. I'm worried because, what if I do the same in Soul Society or even here on Earth. The results could be disastrous. So, I had Urahara create this limiter so that I couldn't go past a certain point in reiatsu."

Tatsuki stared at the bracelet, eyes transfixed on it. 'A reiatsu limiter...' She thought to herself. The night went on and everyone started to grow tired. Mizuiro was the first to go to sleep. He picked a spot furthest away from the entrance and rolled out his sleeping bag. He crawled into the bag and quickly fell asleep.

"Hey Yamasaki, I just noticed something." Ichigo asked. "Where's the zipper to close the door? I noticed there is none."

"You haven't noticed?" Ishida answered before Yamasaki could. "Try to kick some sand towards the entrance." He pushed up his glasses back up with his free arm, his other arm around Orihime's waist. Ichigo picked up some sand and threw it at the opening in the gazebo. As it reached the entrance, it suddenly disappeared. Ichigo looked on as all the sand he threw disappeared. He picked up another bit of sand and threw it at the sides of the gazebo, with the same result.

"I knew you would be the one to notice." Yamasaki said. "I have a special ward on it that'll keep alot of things out of gazebo. That way we didn't have to worry about alot of things creeping up on us as we slept." Sado was the next to go, followed closely by Keigo. As hard as she tried, Orihime tried to stay awake. She would doze off with her mouth open and a little drool would fall on Uryuu's arm. He would chastise her and tell her to go to sleep, but she refused.

Just then Tatsuki got up and proclaimed she was going to sleep. She beckoned for Orihime to join her, who finally gave in. Ichigo stood up and gave Tatsuki a kiss on her forehead. Ishida got up and held Orihime as he kissed her on the cheek. The girls quickly made their ways into the tent and crawled into their sleeping bags. Yamasaki, Ichigo, and Uryuu sat in silence. Yamasaki poked at the fire a little bit to keep the embers burning. He stood up and walked over to the pile of logs and grabbed a few. He placed them in the middle of the fire and poked the lit logs underneath to help catch the logs faster. Tatsuki and Orihime quickly fell asleep.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep too." Ichigo said. He got up and headed over to the gazebo. He grabbed his sleeping bag and sat it next to Tatsuki. He laid down and ran his fingers through her hair. She stirred lightly and opened her eyes. She snuggled her head a little into Ichigo's chest who simply kissed her forehead and closed his eyes.

"Does she know?" Ishida asked. Yamasaki never taking his eyes off the fire, answered.

"She has an idea. But she doesn't know exactly what it is yet." Ishida also stared into the fire intently.

"What are we going to do?" Ishida asked.

"We'll have to talk to Urahara tomorrow. I'm concerned." Yamasaki said.

"I am too. I'm concerned with what's going to happen with Tatsuki." Ishida responded.

"Not just Tatsuki. I know Soul Society has taken notice. I'm concerned about how they're going to react." The two sat there in silence, watching the fire burn into the fresh logs. Suddenly a hollow roared in the distance.

"Man they are busy tonight." Yamasaki commented with a small chuckle.

"It must be because of the summer. I bet alot of the students are out partying and having fun. It is the first day of summer." Ishida stood up. "I'll take care of this one, I want to clear my mind a little before I head to sleep."

"You're going to sleep as soon as you come back?" Yamasaki asked. Ishida nodded as he disappeared. Yamasaki got up he moved from his spot so that he could stand between the fire and the gazebo. He put his hands towards the fire and lightly blasted it with a water spell. The fire instantly disappeared. Then he recited an ice spell, to freeze the wood so that they wouldn't catch again. He walked into the gazebo and grabbed his sleeping bag. He placed it near the entrance, far from all the rest. He slipped inside and instantly fell asleep.

* * *

Now, onto the main story. Expect things to pick up from here in terms of content and the pace of the story.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Calm

The next day, Yamasaki was the first to wake. Yawning, he slowly sat up and surveyed his surroundings. The waves crashed lightly in the background. The seagulls squawked as they glided above the sea. He crawled out of his sleeping bag, reaching high into the air to fully stretch out his still sleepy body. As his arms fell to his side, he walked out of the gazebo letting out another yawn. He made his way towards the wooded area, to relieve himself as most do when they first wake up.

After he was finished, he headed out to the beach and sat in the sand. Burying his toes in the sand, he sat there quietly staring out onto the ocean. After a long quiet moment, he slowly rose to his feet letting out last yawn, accentuated by a loud exhale of air. Instead of making his way back to that gazebo, he disappeared and suddenly reappeared at the top of the cliff. THere a familiar character was waiting, a giant grin upon the only visible part of his face. A green and white striped hat covered the rest of his facial features.

"Such a beautiful morning." Kisuke Urahara said, still grinning. His fan in one hand and his cane in the other, he stood there a few yards away from Yamasaki.

"That it is," Yamasaki began. He looked up at the bright sky, a few clouds drifting about. "Are you going to catch up on your tan?" He smiled as he turned his attention back to Urahara, who chuckled lightly.

"I'll have to pass. Last time, I forgot to use suntan lotion and everyone did all they could to make me regret that decision." He shivered lightly as he thought back to that time. Yoruichi was the major culprit, taking any chance she could to slap Urahara on all the sunspots on his body.

"Please stop by my shop tonight." He spoke, quickly turning the light-hearted moment into something more severe. "It seems we may be expecting some extra guests coming soon. We have to roll out the welcome mat when they arrive."

"So soon?" Yamasaki asked. "You would think that they at least wait a little longer to gather more intel on..."

"They know it's Tatsuki." Urahara interrupted. "Based on what Yoruichi was able to find out, it looks like they fortifying their defenses in Soul Society."

"What are they thinking? If she unleashes her power, she's not going to go to Soul Society."

"It's not against her." Urahara sternly spoke. "It's against Ichigo." Eyes staring directly into Yamasaki's, Urahara continued. "They know the two are in a deep relationship and realize that they need to act quickly before Ichigo can react." Yamasaki clenched his fists, his limiter started to glow sending a sharp pain through Yamasaki's body. He winced a little as he lowered his reiatsu, stopping the limiter from glowing.

"So what do you think they are going to do?" Yamasaki calmly asked.

"Well," Urahara simply began. "I think what they will try to do is take Tatsuki and bring her to Soul Society. Because of the danger she poses, should her power be unleashed, they will try one of two approaches. If they can control her power from unleashing, they will probably lock her up inside a detainment facility similar to what they currently have for Aizen."

"And if they feel that doesn't work?" He trailed off near the end of his question, realizing he already knew the answer. The look in Urahara's eyes said it all. Yamasaki looked back towards the ocean, a mixed look of anger and sadness in his eyes. He looked down at his left wrist, the bracelet limiter wrapped around it.

"Looks like things will be getting real interesting very soon." Yamasaki said. Again his limiter began to glow, as his clenched his fists and began to raise his reiatsu. With his eyes never leaving Yamasaki, Urahara stood there with the same look on his face. He could feel the reiatsu emanating from Yamasaki. A sense of fear began to creep in him. He knew the power Yamasaki held, and understood if he were to ever use it all it could lead to unforeseen consequences.

"Well I better get back to my shop." Urahara spoke, after the brief moment of silence. "I need to get prepared to welcome our guests. I wonder what type of chips I should get." And with that Urahara disappeared. Yamasaki appreciated the attempt at humour to try and ease the tension building within him. He released one big spurt of reiatsu, sending an excruciating amount of pain throughout his body. He fell to one knee, breathing hard. Suddenly he coughed up blood, the limiter no longer glowing. He stared at the small pool of spit and blood for a second before standing up and running his arm across his mouth to wipe the blood.

He looked back down towards the gazebo, a single pair of eyes staring directly back into his. The short spiky hair, slightly messier as she had just woken up, easily distinguishable from the rest. A look of concern on his face as he stood there for a moment before disappearing. She waited for a moment, wondering if he was going to reappear somewhere on the beach.

A small high-pitched squeal escaped from behind her as she let out a small sigh of relief. She covered her nose as the result of her actions hit her senses quickly. She walked away from that pocket of hot air, trying to escape its cloud of death. A slight breeze flew by, thankfully blowing the hot pocket of air away from her. Taking advantage of the situation, another small squeak escaped from her again, this time the breeze carried it so she didn't have to suffer from the horrible smell.

Feeling relieved, she decided to go for a swim. Every day, shortly after Tatsuki wakes up, she goes out for a jog to wake her body up and get the blood flowing and to stay in shape. Since it would be too much of a hassle to get her shoes on and head back to the city for a quick run, she decided to replace her morning workout with a quick dip into the sea and swim for awhile. She went into the changing booth and changed into her bikini then headed out into the sea.

Ishida was the next to wake, he opened his eyes and was greeted to the cute sleeping face of Orihime who was snoring lightly. He grinned lightly as he could see a small trail of drool from her mouth to a small puddle directly under her mouth. He slowly crept out of the sleeping bag so as not to wake her up.

As he slowly made his way outside of the gazebo he noticed Tatsuki was not in her sleeping bag. Placing his right hand just above his eyes, he covered them to combat the sudden exposure to light from the bright sun. He looked around. When he didn't see Tatsuki anywhere on the sand, he looked out into the water. A few waves came rolling towards the shore. He could barely see a head moving around in the waters. As he focused his groggy eyes, he barely made out Arisawa swimming in the water.

A wave of relief came over him as he watched her swim in the cove. Tatsuki, glancing over, could barely see Ishida standing there watching her. She waved, and he waved back as she started swimming back to shore. As she made her way out of the water, Ishida walked up to greet her holding a towel he had just gotten for her. She thanked him as she gladly took the towel and began to wipe her body dry.

"I noticed you weren't in your sleeping bag, I was curious where ya went when I didn't see you laying out on the beach." He calmly said. She smiled as she dried out her hair.

"Yeah, I usually go for a run each morning before I do anything. But, since it looked like it was going to be a hassle just to go for a run, I figured a swim would be just as good." She answered as she continued to dry herself.

"I noticed Yamasaki is also gone, you wouldn't happen to have seen him before you went for a swim?" Ishida asked as he looked around again as to verify his claim.

"I thought I saw him up on that cliff you mentioned yesterday. I'm pretty sure he just look at me and then ran off for whatever reason, I don't know." She pointed up to the cliffs in the distance. Ishida glanced over then back at her.

"Eh, whatever. That guy doesn't need anyone to be worrying about him. He's a big boy, he can take care of himself." Tatsuki said as she headed back to the gazebo. Suddenly a loud rumble came from behind Ishida. Eyes widened, he turned around only to see Sado stumbling like only a sleepy giant can out of the gazebo and clumsily make his way over to the wooded areas. Tatsuki let out a small chuckle as she walked in the gazebo and to her bag. She grabbed her bag and headed out to the changing booth.

As Sado made his way back, Ishida started heading back to the gazebo. As soon as Sado had gotten close enough to Ishida, a loud and deep rumble rang through their ears. Ishida looked over to Sado, who grabbed his stomach in embarrassment.

"I'm hungry. You didn't happen to cook breakfast now did you?" Sado asked with a light red tint in his cheeks. Ishida chuckled as he shook his head. "No. I'm sorry big guy. Truthfully, I'm a little hungry too. I don't think any of us really thought about what we would eat the morning after." Ishida sadly responded. Now, his stomach too had started to growl lightly.

As if on cue, they suddenly felt Yamasaki's presence. Ishida and Sado looked towards the city as Yamasaki grew closer. When he arrived, they quickly noticed the two bags labeled "McDaniels" that he held which were giving off the mouth watering scent of delicious hot food. Tatsuki, who had been changing, came out of the changing booth and over to the guys.

"Morning fellas." Yamasaki said with a smile. "Hey Tatsuki!" He yelled with a smile. He placed the bags down and began rummaging through them. He pulled out two plate sized containers and handed one to Ishida and one to Sado. Then he pulled out two sporks wrapped in plastic and handed it to them. He repeat the same for Tatsuki and then pulled out one which he designated for himself.

"I could sense the three of ya were the only ones awake, so I got us all the good breakfast for being up so early." He proudly proclaimed. They sat down in the sand and began opening their containers. It was loaded with scrambled eggs, pancakes, and a breakfast sandwich. Their eyes marveled at all the food and their nose enjoyed the delicious aroma coming from the food. They quickly thanked Yamasaki before they happily dug into their breakfast.

"Hey Yamasaki, I was wondering." Ishida began. "Where do you work? I mean everything you brought here must have cost a fortune!" He exclaimed as he pointed out to the changing booth as well as the gazebo. Yamasaki took a moment to chew and swallow his food before he answered.

"Nowhere." He simply answered before taking another bite into his sandwich.

"Are you saying you are a thief!?" Ishida answered, slightly surprised by Yamasaki's nonchalant answer. Yamasaki took a moment again, mouth still filled with food.

"Kind of. Let's just say I'm glad Soul Society has an abundance in money. It would suck if my only source of income were to run dry." He winked as he finished that sentence.

"Are you saying that you steal from Soul Society's bank account? How long have you been doing this?" Now it was Sado's turn to be surprised.

"I've had access for awhile now. I would take enough each day so that it was under the radar. And, they were never the same amount. I had it range from 25,000 to 30,000 yen a day for about 100 years or so." Yamasaki had been looking away trying to calculate the equations in his head. Had he not, he would have seen the three's jaws dropped to the sand, also trying to imagine just how much he had.

Suddenly they heard some rustling coming from where the rest were asleep. They glanced over and could see Orihime's sleeping bag moving around. Just then, her arm raised up out of her sleeping bag. She slowly sat up rubbing her eye with her other arm, before raising that to stretch out as well. She groggily looked around, before the voice of her best friend caught her attention. She turned her head and could barely make out a figure.

"Good morning blurry figure-kun!" She said aloud. Everyone looked at each confused before they broke out in laughter. Orihime slowly wiggled the rest of her body out of the sleeping bag before rising to her feet. She slowly made her way over to the group, plopping herself down next to Ishida. She rested her head on his shoulders letting out a little moan, which caused Ishida to go red in the face.

"Inoue, w-what are you doing?" Ishida stuttered lightly. Tatsuki, Sado, and Yamasaki were sitting back watching the scene unfold, secretly laughing inside watching Ishida squirm. Orihime put her hand on Ishida's and lightly squeezed on it. She began lifting his hand closer to her face. Then she took a bite of the eggs stuck on the fork before bringing his hand back down to spear some more.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Ishida spoke, suddenly realizing her intentions. He applied some resistance trying to stop her from eating his food, and she fought back. She leaned her head in closer and was able to bite into the eggs on the fork before Ishida would pull it away from her. The three watching were trying to hold back their laughter as they watched the two fight over the food.

"Hey Orihime." Yamasaki called out as he reached into the bag. "I got you a breakfast sandwich." Her face lit up as she happily took the sandwich. She opened the wrapper and took a bite from it with a smile on her face.

"So what are we going to do with those three?" Yamasaki spoke as he looked over at the gazebo where the final three still lay sleeping heavily. Tatsuki shrugged her shoulders and went back to eating her food.

"We should really wake them up soon." Sado spoke.

"Eh. We can wait." Tatsuki said. "I don't want Ichigo waking up and stealing some of my food." She proclaimed as she took a bite of her pancakes. Ishida let out a small chuckle as he also took a bite from his food as Orihime continued to rest her head on his shoulder happily eating her sandwich.

Once they were all finished, they decided to relax a little on the beach before they packed up. After applying some suntan lotion, Tatsuki and Orihime laid out on the beach to relax and enjoy some of the sun. Sado as well decided to enjoy some of the relaxing sun, but laid out elsewhere in the sands. Ishida sat under an umbrella reading a book. Yamasaki began tearing down the part of the gazebo that housed the grill, carefully unhooking each part and placing them on the ground nearby.

It wasn't long before Mizuiro and Keigo woke up. Yamasaki gave them their breakfast sandwiches which they gratefully took. Yamasaki went back over and tied all the parts of the now disassembled grill gazebo. He disappeared along with the pile of parts and returned minutes later without them. He repeated said process with his grill.

When Yamasaki returned, he noticed Mizuiro and Keigo had started building a sandcastle. He made his way over to the gazebo. Once inside, he headed over to his bag and began rummaging through it. Ichigo still laid there in the same spot within his sleeping bag. Looking over, Yamasaki let out a small sigh as he shook his head.

"You got something you want to say?" Yamasaki said, as he pulled out a small pack of chewing gum. He opened the pack and took a piece out from the container. He never turned around as he opened the wrapper and took the piece of gum inside. No response. He placed the pack back into his bag and started closing it when he heard a response from over his shoulder.

"I heard everything from last night." Ichigo spoke quietly enough for only Yamasaki to hear. Yamasaki stopped for a second before he grinned slightly. He put the pack of gum back in his bag and closed his bag.

"Then I guess I better tell Urahara we'll be expecting one more guest tonight. Come as soon as the sun sets." He said as he stood up, his knees making the all too familiar popping sound. Ichigo slowly crawled out of his sleeping bag and rose to his feet.

He looked out onto the beach, Tatsuki and Orihime had switched from lying on their backs now onto their stomach. Ichigo watched on as they readjusted their towels and laid back down on them.

"What's going on tonight?" Ichigo asked, never taking his eyes off Tatsuki. Yamasaki stood next to Ichigo also watching over the girls as they let the sun bronze the backside of their bodies.

"Word is, Soul Society is planning on taking Tatsuki and locking her up so they can study her power and figure out what's going on with her." Yamasaki said. Ichigo, taken back by this, looked over at Yamasaki, eyes wide by Yamasaki's words.

"You mean they want to lock her up and turn her into an experiment!? But she hasn't even shown any signs of her power going crazy since that night we ran into. Why would they want to lock her up so quickly?" Ichigo, irritated, raised his voice as he spoke. Luckily the girls were far enough to where they couldn't hear the two speak. Sado, Keigo, and the rest were further away than the girls so they also couldn't hear them speak.

"That's what I'm asking as well." Yamasaki answered as he placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "It's such a quick and harsh punishment, that it doesn't make sense. That's why we're meeting at Urahara's tonight. Yoruichi is currently in Soul Society right now watching them and trying to figure out what their plan is." He lightly squeezed Ichigo's shoulder as to try and comfort him, knowing that the anger within him was rising.

"Well whatever they are planning, I'll make sure they don't succeed." Ichigo promised aloud to himself. He clenched his fists tightly as he spoke those words. "They won't take Tatsuki away from me. Even if I have to go to Soul Society myself and fight them all, I won't let them take her away from me." Yamasaki could tell from the determined tone of voice, that he used as he spoke, that Ichigo was willing to fight the whole Gotei 13 if he had to to keep them from taking Tatsuki away from him.

"Make sure you aren't late tonight when we go to Urahara's shop." Yamasaki said as he exited the gazebo. "You wouldn't want to miss all the fun." He flashed him a reassuring smile as headed towards Keigo and Mizuiro, who had completed what looked like an outer wall to their sand castle.

Ichigo took a step outside of the gazebo for the first time. He reacted just like the others as he shielded his eyes from the sun. By now everyone, aside from the girls, had noticed that he had awoken. He waved to them as they nodded back in acknowledgement. He headed over to Keigo, Mizuiro, and Yamasaki, who had decided to help them in their castle creation. Once Ichigo made his way over, he jumped in and started to help.

The girls woke up to the sound of laughter from the guys. Tatsuki was the first to peek her head up and looked over at their direction. By then the castle was almost complete. Keigo and Ichigo were finishing up the rooftops of the castle. She chuckled in amusement to see all the guys acting like little kids smiling and laughing over creating the giant castle. Even Ishida, of all people, had joined in on the action.

Orihime was the first of the two girls to speak out about the castle. "Wow that thing is gigantic!" She exclaimed pointing at the castle. It looked just like one of the medieval castles. It had a giant wall surrounding it, with pointy rooftops at the four corners.

"I'm going to get my camera I gotta take a picture of that!" Orihime said as she made her way over to the gazebo. Tatsuki stood up and headed over to the guys to observer and get a closer inspection of the castle. To her further amusement, none of the guys had really noticed her walk over to check out their work. They were all busy trying to make the sandcastle an amazing one. Sado was reinforcing the bottom of the castle by patching spots that looked weak. Mizuiro and Ishida were busy trying to draw window outlines in the outer walls of the castle. Keigo and Ichigo were both finishing up the rooftops, an upwards pointing cone shaped roofs.

As she further investigated their creation, she could really see all the detail and hard work that the boys had put into making this castle really good. Orihime finally arrived, camera in hand, and started looking over the castle as well. She made many "ohh" and "ahhs" sounds as she circled the castle admiring the work. She began taking pictures of the boys as they worked on the castle. When they finally finished the castle, they stepped out of it to admire their work. Ichigo wrapped an arm around Tatsuki's waist as he looked over the castle.

"We should take a group photo in front of the castle!" Orihime suggested happily. Yamasaki volunteered to take the picture for them. They lined up in front of the castle, from left to right, Mizuiro, Sado, Ichigo, Tatsuki, Orihime, Ishida, and Keigo. Yamasaki held the camera as he focused on the group. He signaled to them as he was about to take the picture. He took the shot, perfect it came out. As he handed back the camera to Orihime, she thanked him for taking the picture.

Soon after, they decided it was time to go back home. They packed up their belongings as Yamasaki used his kido to destroy the girls changing room as well as the gazebo. As the structures went up in smoke, they headed out. The day went on and when the sky grew dark, Ichigo snuck out of the house and made his way to Urahara's shop. Once he arrived, he was greeted by Tessai who nodded in silence as he let Ichigo in. When he arrived in the designated meeting room, he looked around to see who was already there, Ishida, Urahara, Yoruichi, and Yamasaki.

"Ishida?" Ichigo said, surprised that he was even there to begin with. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Tatsuki is my friend too and I care about what is going on with her. If what Urahara says is true, I also want to prevent them from taking her and locking her up." He frankly spoke. He sat there sipping his tea, eyes closed and legs crossed tucked under the table.

Ichigo took a seat at the table in between Ishida and Yoruichi. Yamasaki stood at the far end of the room across from Urahara who sat in front of the open window. A slight breezed rolled in as Urahara sat there also drinking some tea. After a brief moment of silence, Urahara spoke.

"Well now that we're all here. We can get down to business."


End file.
